We had such a great time performing at last week’s Sleep in Heavenly Peace Christmas concert at St Paul’s Shadwell! The church was packed out with more than 50 singers, some 200 audience, and all the festive feels 🙂

The concert was a fundraiser for the brilliant GrowTH night shelter, and raised more than £3200 to support their work in Tower Hamlets. This year we also ran a raffle and silent auction increasing the funds raised by almost a third, bringing the grand total donated to GrowTH to £3202.19 – a massive thank you to everyone who came along and contributed to this, and to everyone who helped make it happen!

This is our fourth year in a row raising money for GrowTH at Christmas (see 2015, 2014 and 2013!) and we’re so proud to be working with this brilliant charity. This year our rehearsals coincided with St Paul’s Shadwell hosting the night shelter, so we were also able to invite guests from the shelter to join us for rehearsals, and we loved having them with us.

GrowTH’s main project is an emergency night shelter which provides immediate shelter and meals for homeless men and women, as well as assistance in securing more permanent longer-term accommodation, operating for seven months of the year. In their 2015/16 season, GrowTH provided shelter for 145 homeless men and women, and helped secure more permanent accommodation for 56. They also provide supported housing for formerly homeless men and are developing social enterprises to assist guests towards mainstream employment. To find out more, visit www.thisisgrowth.org.

Thank you to Dan McCurry and Pia Codina for their beautiful photos of the concert, to everyone who donated auction and raffle prizes, and to St Paul’s Shadwell for hosting us.